Trouble Coming

N. started preschool—she’s only going one day a week, and it’s probably more of a “mom day out” than an intense curriculum, but it is a great experience for her nonetheless.  I know she appreciates the time being in a group and having people to spend time with who are not just her mother.

And with a sweet face like this, how could she possibly be any trouble?*

Sister love.

*I imagine that she will be trouble since she seems to have a larger-than-average personality, but as of the date of publication, she has only gotten glowing reports from her teachers at school.  Grandma A. suggests that N’s dad was similarly excellent at school but quite a bit of child while at home.

Freshly Shorn

I had my hair chopped short (happiness!) and wanted to try to get a picture of it so N. and I posed for several.  One turned out with her making a sweet face:

And the rest were a series of her making silly faces.  Somehow she knew to make a new face every time I clicked the camera, and somehow she never repeated a face.  Also?  There are more that I didn’t post—this is not an exhaustive collection.

First Day!

My precious firstborn started Kindergarten!  She was excited when she left and excited when she got home.

With her buddy T, also in Kindergarten (though sadly they’re not in the same class).  They look so much older than they did last year.

But they’re still as goofy!

And she rode the big yellow bus to school.  I wondered if I should drag my big camera to the bus stop with me and ultimately decided to—and every single parent there also had a DSLR with them.  Also, bless her bus driver who greeted the students with “turn around and wave to your parents!”

Meta Art

K. drew a recursive picture without being prompted—and without knowing what the word “recursive” means:

So to complete the pattern, here is K. holding her two crayons like the girl in the picture is:

 

Bookworm

I caught N. reading a book to her bear and had to get it on camera.

Working Out

And the other new room in the basement is our exercise room.  It doesn’t get a ton of use at the moment since the weather is really nice out, but I have high hopes that we’ll spend a lot of time together this winter.

Shower in Style

Our basement now has a full bathroom (complete with a urinal!)

B. did everything himself, including all of the beautiful tiling on the floor and the shower.

He added a shelf for toiletries:

And even a little ledge in the corner.  He did amazing work!

Movie Night

B. finished the home theater that he built in the basement, and we have enjoyed much time as a family loafing and watching movies.  It’s pretty cool, and really, we may never leave our house again.

The lighting is great theater lighting but not so good for taking indoor photos, so I apologize for the graininess.

Flipping Fun

This summer, K. took a gymnastics class.  She was hesitant about trying new things (though she was excited about gymnastics itself) but ultimately did.  I was proud of her.

Backflip on the rings (with teacher assistance):

She did it!

Handstand against the wall.

I don’t know that she’ll go to the Olympics, but she spends a great deal of time practicing cartwheels in the living room.

Cuteness Overload

N. and pigtails.  ‘Nuff said.

Future Architects

K, after having played with the small Legos at a friend’s house, asked if she could have some of her own.  Fortunately, I had my Legos from childhood stashed in a closet for this very moment.

K. built a house including stairs and people walking up said stairs.

And N. was even able to build with them.  They were a little bit difficult for her to put together, and she required a bit of Mom assistance, but I am pleased that she is out of the phase where I have to worry about her eating them.

And Mom got to enjoy a cup of coffee while the girls played nicely together.

K. wanted a picture of her whole house:

And a picture of the guy looking out the window:

Lovely Laundry

Since I spend quite a bit of time in my laundry room, I gave it a makeover as well.  It is painted a charcoal gray (it was hard to get good pictures since the space isn’t huge—I mean, it is substantial for a laundry room, but not a big space in general).

My favorite part is the chandelier that B. kindly hung up for me.  I acknowledge that it is over-the-top, but it brings a little bit of cheer to what would otherwise be a fairly mundane chore.

Bedroom Makeover

I recently finished decorating our master bedroom (it’s okay that I finally got around to it—we’ve only lived in this house for three years).  I got the duvet and curtains from Ikea, and repainted the room a grayish purple.

The pretty wall hangings are from The Container Store.  They were originally white, but I repainted them so they popped more.  I painted them the same the same color as the “A” I painted above the bed—which is the same color as my laundry room.  Why?  Well, it’s a nice color but mostly because it is something I didn’t have to purchase, and I’m thrifty like that.

 

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Virtual Refrigerator

Since you, dear blog readers, probably don’t get to see K’s art gallery on a regular basis, I scanned some of her recent works.

Just in case you can’t tell exactly what you are looking at, I’ll give a brief synopsis.  This picture is two artists (see their paint palettes?) and you can see they have completed several paintings that they have taped on the wall.

I think this one is pretty obvious.

A monster.  They had to draw monsters at some point in school, and K. realized she hadn’t drawn one before, so she came home and practiced.  There were actually several in this series.

This might be my favorite.  It is a map of our neighborhood, and according to K, “It’s raining.”  I guess we watch too much of the Weather Channel and are a bit too obsessed with the radar.

Not to be left out, here are some Os that N. drew.  I’m not sure if she knows they’re all Os, or if she was writing a story.

N’s self portrait.  You can see the head, arms and legs, two eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and chin.